THE EDITOR, Sir:IT IS of great concern to me that rural life seems to have taken an economic nose dive. With agricultural production down the multiplier effect is most devastating.
(a) The population of young idle able-bodied persons is on the rise
(b) The drift of persons from country to town seeking to find a better life which is sometimes elusive continues to increase and is a contributory factor in the escalation of crime and other anti-social activities in urban areas.
(c) There is an increase in crime in once quiet rural communities across the country.
(d) Rural Jamaica is mostly on the backburner of national action and at best an afterthought, which gets stumped along the way. One undesirable thing is that some rural Members of Parliament become Ministers then disappear into the big city and in many cases not tending to the needs of their constituents as promptly as they should.
(e) The virtues of hard work and the importance of a good education is giving way to the get-rich-quick by any means necessary mentality is taking over.
More and more youths are considering and/or actively pursuing a career in illegal drugs. As a people we should do all that is feasible to ensure that the quality and substance of rural life is improved so that a self reliant and a proud people can continue to make their invaluable contributions to this country.
Take a look around, you see the numerous country boys and girls who took country bus, train and various modes of transportation to deliver to this nation leadership in every sphere of socio-economic life along with the values and attitudes helping to keep this country from going to sea on a wave of moral and attitudinal decay.
Companies and/or individuals willing to invest in the rural areas or relocate should be given incentives to do so; such as tax holidays, duty-free concessions on the importation of goods to do with the said activity. Members of Parliament, Councillors, and other interest groups could now lobby for investments in their areas.
This I think would assist in the facilitation of a more democratic and dynamic economic and participatory social environment in which each resident could see and feel his or her stake in the community for a better Jamaica.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL SPENCE
PO box 630, Kingston 6
